"North Africa boardgame as a campaign engine? " Topic

I'm hoping to play some more North Africa games with a friend, but this time in a campaign context.

Any ideas for a _simple_ boardgame which would allow us to play the big picture strategically and then zoom in on a few (or all) battles to get minis on the table?

Options so far:

Field Commander: Rommel – fairly simple, albeit it's solo.
Rommel in the Desert – probably getting too complicated already – we want to play the miniature games but in a strategic context, not play a detailed campaign game.

Ideally, it would be available on Vassal so we can keep track of the board easily without leaving the physical thing set up for weeks.

Any thoughts?

Rommel in the Desert like all block game can make a nice campaign system

Not sure it gets much simpler than Rommel in the Desert, which would be my suggestion.

Many years ago we used Avalon Hill's Africa Corps. Very simple, with supply rules as well.

"Panzerarmee Afrika" would work and you can find relatively inexpensive copies around

link

I'd say either "Afrika Korps" or "Panzer Armee Afrika". Hard to beat the classics.

I'd go with Africa Corps or Panzerarmee Afrika as well. You can also go with Afrika from MMP/The Gamers. The first edition is available pretty cheaply and it does have a vassal module.

Another vote for AH's Afrika Korps.

Thanks guys, some great ideas – I'll do some further investigating

Rommel in the Desert is a strong candidate.

I have seen a campaign system using AH-Afrika Korps but it had been converted into a point to point system rather than the fluidity of a hex system. It did work well.

No on Afrika from MMP/The Gamers. Great game, I have it, but way to detailed, and has way too many turns, for this purpose.

Keep in mind that the fundamental purpose of any board game is to generate horribly unbalanced scenarios.

Yeah, in most games you don't attack at 1:1 unless you have to in order to gain a 4:1 elsewhere (the infamous "soak off" attack).

You also need rules for delaying actions. You're outnumbered 3:1, why not retreat off the map on turn 1?

Hmm, thanks for the latest comments, this is more complicated that I thought!

I'm tempted to try Afrika Korps, just because it's a classic and I've never played it, but I can see the problems of the unbalanced ratio attacking and not sure what to do about that, apart from something like limiting attacks to 2:1 which could break the game.

Anyone else done this before successfully?

Interestingly, reading the rules for Rommel in the Desert says there's no stacking limit for blocks.

@rudy Nelson, I tried to find the campaign system online but to no avail, do you have any more info?

When we used Africa Corps for our campaign, it was just for unit movement and organization. Each counter had a list attached to it denoting how many vehicles, men etc, generally on a battalion/company level. The counters moved on the board representing movement.

Once and attack was announced, the game was played with miniatures on a table. If the battle was lost, the loosing player vacated the hex, or moved even further back depending on the severity of loss. The winner taking the hex. Each player noting on his roster what was lost.
If I remember correctly the looser replaced something like 25% of his losses, the winner 45%. You can fiddle with this.

Attrition, supply and reinforcements became a very important point with this campaign. Changes in vehicles were accounted for, such as upgrades from early tanks to mid war. The same happened for anti-tanks guns and artillery.

Sorry it was a loooong time ago.

Thanks for the ideas, @wrgmr1, all very helpful stuff.

I think I'd definitely like to try using AK for a campaign (maybe on VASSAL), but have stumbled across an old copy of a FOW North Africa campaign engine I'd printed out ages ago which could be used (we're playing with Blitzkrieg Commander for this one).

I'll track it down online if I can and put the link up for others to use.

Found it! It's from the excellent Wasatch Front Historical Gaming Society: wfhgs.com

It's a Flames of War Tobruk campaign (but easily adaptable to other systems)

PDF link

There are loads more issues of their excellent wargaming magazine downloadable free.